Stephen F. Austin
Texas A&M - Corpus Christi
SFA Hopes to Gain Separation in Southland Standings Wednesday against Islanders
2/19/2019 9:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball
'Jacks sit in sixth place in the league standings, Islanders are in seventh
Game Twenty-Five | Sponsored by Chick-Fil-A
SFA (13-11, 6-6 Southland) vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (10-15, 5-7 Southland)
Wednesday, Feb. 20 | 6:30 p,m. | William R. Johnson Coliseum (7.203) | Nacogdoches, Texas
Tickets | Watch (ESPN+/ESPN app) | Listen (Q107.7/TuneIn app) | Live Stats | SFA Game Notes | Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Game Notes
THE OPENING TIP
• The SFA men's basketball team has just three home games remaining on its 2018-19 schedule and the first of those three takes place Wednesday night when the 'Jacks welcome Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to Texas' oldest town for the only meeting between the two clubs this season.
• ESPN+ and the ESPN app will broadcast the 25th matchup between the 'Jacks and Islanders with Rob Meyers providing play-by-play and analysis. Meyers' call of the action can also be heard on the Learfield/IMG College Lumberjack Sports Network available on Q107.7 FM in Nacogdoches and around the globe via the TuneIn app.
• With six regular season games remaining on its schedule, the 'Jacks need as many wins a possible to solidify a spot in the Southland Conference Tournament. SFA currently sits in sixth place but is just one game ahead of a trio of teams who are tied for seventh place. One of those teams is Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and SFA currently holds head-to-head tiebreakers over the other two teams in seventh place (Central Arkansas and Houston Baptist).
• Senior Shannon Bogues has been chasing the 1,000-career point mark since the season began and he is now close to arriving at that benchmark. The Killeen, Texas, product is just 40 points away from becoming the 32nd player in program history to reach 1,000 career points.
• Bogues is currently third in the Southland in scoring with an average of 17.5 points per game. In Southland-only games, that average improves to 17.7 per game which is the fourth-highest in the league. The senior has put in 10 or more points in 25 straight games dating back to last season which is the second-longest double-digit scoring streak by a single player in SFA's NCAA history.
• Kevon Harris leads the Southland in scoring, averaging 18.3 points per game. In Southland games that average rises to 22.3 points per game. Between Bogues and Harris, SFA has two of the top three scorers in the Southland Conference. Those two are also the top two players in the Southland in terms of minutes played per game.
LAST TIME OUT
• Shannon Bogues hit his first seven shots and scored 20 points in the opening half to help SFA take a 39-38 lead over Northwestern State at the break but the Demons outscored the 'Jacks by 16 in the second half to secure an 87-62 victory inside Prather Coliseum Saturday evening.
• Kevon Harris added 18 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field but no other Lumberjack exceeded six points. Harris also went to the foul line 10 times, running his stretch of games with 10 or more free throw attempts to four.
• Freshman Mitchell Seraille turned in one of the best outings of his career by grabbing a team and career-high 11 rebounds in the setback. The first-year player also netted six points and tied a career-high by blocking three shots.
SCOUTING TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Heading into Nacogdoches intent on moving up in the Southland standings, the Islanders lead the Southland and rank 81st nationally in field goal percentage defense. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi lets its opponents sink just 41.9-percent of their shots from the field.
• The Islanders' tough stance on opponent field goal conversion has also led to them possessing the Southland's second-best scoring defense. Opponents are netting just 66.8 points per game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi this season which ranks 58th nationally.
• Kareem South (13.4 points per game) and Myles Smith (10.4 points per game) are the only two Islanders who are averaging double digits in scoring. South also sits near the top of the Islanders' charts in rebounding at 5.3 per game. It's Elijah Schmidt, however, who leads the team in rebounding with an average of 5.6 per contest.
• Since last season, the Islanders have gone only 6-20 (.231) in road games. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's two road wins this season have come at Northwestern State (62-61) and at UT-Arlington (73-67). The Islanders have also played seven games that have been decided by five or fewer points and in those games Texas A&M-Corpus Christ is 3-4.
COMING UP NEXT
• SFA's penultimate home game is next up on its docket. Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m., the 'Jacks play host to Southland Conference foe Incarnate Word in a league showdown that is set to be broadcast nationwide on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. The City of Nacogdoches will serve as the gameday sponsor and a canned food drive will be hosted in conjunction with Hunger Jacks. For every can of food a fan brings up to five cans) one dollar will be subtracted from the amount of a general admission ticket.
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